Feliz Navidad!

I´m not quite sure what happened this week, but I made a tremendous amount of progress. I have also felt suspiciously confident this week. I found that I´m not that afraid to talk to people... Including when they start yelling at me. For some reason, a lot of my fears are gone.
I´ve been teaching in lessons an equal amount as Hermana Sánchez, and I´ve been helping contact a lot. We were able to get a ton of contacts and teach a ton of lessons this week. I really feel like the Lord has blessed me tremendously. We´ve also been praying a lot to find new investigators, and we´ve found quite a few people to teach.
We have a new Elder in our area, Elder Wells. We really like him. He wants to work in a team, and he´s a hard worker and a very obedient missionary. So obedient, in fact, that we had this exchange the other day:

"Hermana Sánchez and I want to know what you want to do for Christmas. We were going to go to Villalba, and wanted to invite you to come with us. But you and Elder Roka are free to do whatever you want." 
"Wow... That´s the sweetest thing a sister has ever told me!" 
"Well... Uh... I mean... Hermana Sánchez and I want to make sure you feel included and have the invitation to go with us..." 
"Normally the sisters just command me what to do. Thanks for giving me the choice!" 

We had some surprises with our investigators this week. We had two, Mya and An, that we were going to drop because they just weren´t progressing. Nonetheless, we showed the act of faith by planning for them anyways. We planned on going to both of their houses with the intention of dropping them. But for some reason, everything changed. Both had told us that they wanted to progress.
Mya for one, told us that she was going to drop us, but she realized how good she felt everytime we came over. She said she had a sincere desire to change her life and be happier. (As a side note, her boyfriend, Luis, just lost his job, and they have two children. Please pray for them. Things are hard for them.)
Over the last month, I´ve been thinking a lot about Christmas. It´s my favorite Holiday, and this year I want to make it my best Christmas ever. I´ve been thinking about this concept of "He is the Gift." The savior has given me so much in my life. So much that there is no way I could possibly pay him back. One of the Elders was giving a spiritual thought yesterday and mentioned how missionary work matters more to the Lord than we can even imagine. I know the best way I can show my love for the Lord is by doing this work to the best of my ability. I feel lucky that I have this opportunity.
We had a few changes in our list of investigators this week. We dropped someone, but the Lord blessed us with a few new people:
Investigators: Ra, Sa, Fl, Os, El, Je and A and Da (Da is the little sister of A. They are a young couple, and are helping raise Da), An, Mya, Cn.
Recent converts and Less-Actives: Rl, Án, R, Je (Who just discovered a love for reading the Book of Mormon! He reads it late into the night and his testimony is growing so strong!), Eth.
I love you guys so much! I can´t wait until Christmas!

Baptism

Kathleen's letter was a little short this week, but it was an eventful time.  Here is her report:

Unfortunately, I didn't plan out my email to the family too well today, so I can´t write much. But I did want to tell you that R´s baptism was amazing. She was so happy (despite that we don´t have a single picture of her smiling). She was beaming when she came out of the water. During her confirmation, she received a priesthood blessing that said when her little grand children saw how happy she was, they knew this was the true church. One even asked us if he could get baptized. Her blessing also said she would be able to be sealed to her family soon. I cried a little.

Hna. Sykes

Zone Conference & Beyond

This week I had a Zone Conference, and it was amazing! We talked a lot about listening to our investigators. In reality, this is one of the hallmarks of good missionary work. We also talked a lot about being bold and identifying ourselves as representatives of Jesus Christ.

I read in John 9 this week and it talked about a blind man who was healed by the savior. He didn't see who healed him, but he knew to some extent it was the savior. The Pharisees  subjected this man to a harsh round of interrogation, but the man never denied the work that had been done. He is banned from the synagogue, but as he is leaving, he meets the savior and discovers for a certainty that He was the man who healed him. It´s much like our lives in which we must be bold and have faith before we know anything for certain.

We also did more exchanges this week. Nothing terribly eventful. Most people waved us off. One even yelled off in the distance "CULT!"   I wanted to give her a piece of my mind, but I realized that I needed to follow the example of the Savior. Specifically, my works here are good enough. I don´t need to prove anything. I´m here to teach those who will listen.

We had an amazing investigator this week. A few weeks ago, we stopped Rs because Hermana Sanchez felt a strong prompting to talk to her. When we met with her, we could tell there was some sort of light within her. When we started the lesson we asked if we could sing a hymn, and Hermana Sanchez asked me to pick. For some reason, out of the 209 songs in the Spanish Hymn Book, I could only think of Christmas songs. So we sang O Come All Ye Faithful.

My companion and I were a little worried that this was going to be weird for her. I was certain she was going to tell her friends later something to the effect of "These weird girls asked me to come learn more about their religion and they told me some stuff about golden plates and angels, and then we sang Christmas songs..." Nonetheless, as we started singing, we saw her face light up.
I could feel the spirit strongest when we read James 1: 5 to her (If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him). I know we can talk to God and he will answer our prayers.

At the end of the lesson, even before we had time to say anything, she asked "What do I need to do to be baptized in your church?" We were both speechless. We´re meeting with her sometime this week.

We´re plodding along on R´s baptism. We had to push it forward a week because there was no way we were going to teach everything to her in time for last Saturday. It´s best to go a little too slow than to go too fast. We wanted to make sure she understood everything and felt comfortable. But we do have her baptism set in stone for this Saturday. :) She´s excited.

I´m singing with the Elders in the program, so I´ll be sure to send a video (which is apparently not against my mission rules!) and some photos of R, Hna. Sanchez and me. 

This Week Was Pretty Awesome

Here is Kathleen's latest letter from the field (posted by her Mom--just so no one thinks she is sneaking out and playing with Facebook!!)

I´m so happy to hear about Whit's mission. It sounds like he was really successful. He certainly had the right attitude. If you go into a mission looking to find yourself, you´ll be sorely disappointed. A mission is about finding others. And what he said about creating yourself is true. I´m understanding the importance and developing a desire to be more like the savior. One of the characteristics of the Savior was that despite his own discomforts, fears and insecurities, he never turned inwards and focused on himself. He instead fought his afflictions by focusing on loving and comforting others.

This week was pretty awesome! We have one investigator, R, who we are preparing for baptism on the 29th. She´s from the Dominican Republic and she is full of sass and doesn´t care what anyone thinks about her. She is awesome! She gets the Telling-It-How-It-Is Award. Also, she is super prepared. She understands things so clearly and beautifully. It´s like the Spirit is whispering in her ear the whole lesson.

This week she brought her adorable grandson, P, to the lesson (he is just like his grandmother). We talked about prayer and he even answered some of the questions in the lesson. R knows how to pray like we do, but her grandson doesn´t. She asked P to pray at the end of the lesson, and he protested. She was having none of it. Her response: "You know ´Our Father´ don´t you? Good. Say that." I had to hold back my giggling.

I gave a talk in church. Apparently the congregation was a little surprised. A lot of them told me my Spanish was really clear, and that I´ve learned a lot since I´ve been here. This week I have to give the lesson in Family Home Evening for the branch. I sure hope I can speak as clearly then.

We also had a new investigator this week. We met A on the street the first week we were here, and she said she was looking for a church. She´s also from the Dominican Republic. She has three children, but unfortunately, they are in the Dominican Republic while she works here. She said she really trusted us and that´s why she invited us over.

We could tell how prepared she was to hear the Gospel. When we talked about her beliefs she expressed frustration that there are so many churches that teach different things, but to her "there is only one God." We taught her the first lesson, and she understood everything: Prophets, apostasy, the church Jesus Christ established on the earth. She accepted the message so well. She´s a really special person.

Spiritual thought for the week:

In my personal study this week I read the first chapter of John. In verses 6-9 I felt like it was speaking directly to me. I know that I was called by God to do this work. I know I´m here to bear testimony of the power of the Atonement to all who will listen. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives. 

"There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."

In verse 12 I was reminded how powerful the Atonement is and how powerful and real the ordinances of the Gospel are. (Particularly, baptism).

"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

I love you all.

Warmly (even though I´m freezing),

Kathleen

El Campo

Post No. 1.  10/27/14:  My last evening in the MTC I used that story to try and uplift one of the missionaries going to Russia (James Christiansen´s mission). He was really struggling, and he believed that he didn´t have the social skills or Gospel skills to be a good missionary. I had him read the story, and I told him how I knew that he was exactly where the Lord wanted him. I told him that I loved him and that he was going to do good work in Russia. He had tears in his eyes. When I left the next morning, he told me he was going to miss me the most of all the Spanish speaking missionaries.

The field is AWESOME. I love it here. I was hoping I could surprise you guys, but either my credit card statement or mission president spoiled the surprise. Not quite sure which. 

Nonetheless, I´m in Segovia! It´s the most Spanish thing I´ve ever seen. There is a super tiny branch of no more than 25 people. Nineteen came to church yesterday and this includes four missionaries. We need 150 people to make a ward... We seriously have our work cut out for us.

My companion is Hermana Sánchez! She´s 22 and from the south of Spain. She speaks some English, so we have some funny moments where we can barely understand eachother. We get along great! We´re a really great companionship, and she loves being my companion as well!

I can´t even begin to tell you how awesome I think she is! When I was in the MTC, I kept telling the MTC President that I really want to be the best missionary I can be. He would talk a little about the usual things that make a good missionary; then he would say that he doesn´t think I´ll have a problem with any of that; then end by saying "Wow! I really hope one of you gets Hermana Sánchez! She´s the best missionary I´ve ever seen!"

When the president told me that I was getting her as my trainer, I felt like I won the jackpot. I was thrilled!

The other two missionaries here are Elders Brewer and Roca. Elder Roca is on a mini-mission, a three month mission before he starts his real one. He´s a really good missionary. The four of us accidentally run into each other every day. This city is super small.

In other news, we have a baptismal date set for the 22nd of November. It´s the sister of one of our other investigators.

Post No. 2.  11/10/2014:  I forgot to tell you guys about my first impressions of Spain. In the area where I´m serving, it´s super diverse. A lot of the people here are from Ecuador and the Dominican Republic. And obviously there are a lot of Spaniards. One of the first things I noticed is that grandparents are super involved with their grandchildren. I almost always see children with their grandparents instead of their parents.

Also, the older generation likes to dress in casual suits any day at any hour of the day. I kind of like it. 

Proselyting here is kind of interesting. When we´re not teaching, we´re typically street contacting. Normally, people think we´re Jehovah´s Witnesses or trying to sell them a copy of the Book of Mormon. Occasionally, however, we do have a good fortune of talking to someone who is really interested.

We´ve had an incredible week. We´ve been really diligent and obedient, and it has really paid off. On Tuesday, I went to Madrid to do exchanges. My companion was Hermana Whiting, who I actually met on Facebook in a group for sister missionaries. We had an awesome day together. We taught two people, Al and Jeff.

Al was interesting. She is from Hong Kong, and she was in Madrid for work. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She was very open to both messages. She had really good questions, and really wanted to understand what we were teaching.

Jeff was really fun to teach. He has a great sense of humor. We started teaching him about the Word of Wisdom, but we got side tracked on part of the Plan of Salvation. This went on for a really long time, but finally the "teach people, not lessons" mode kicked in for me.

A lot of times, missionaries don´t have all the answers, but the scriptures do, and that´s what Jeff needed. I gave my testimony about prayer and scripture study, and how I know that all of life´s questions can be answered through them. Hermana Whiting did the same. I asked him if he would pray that night and search the scriptures for his answer, and he agreed.

After Sister Whiting and I got out of that lesson, she told me that it was a big deal that we committed him to pray. Apparently he never wanted to pray previously due to some bad experiences with his family. The fact he committed was a big step for him.

One of the things I´ve learned this week is that free agency has a lot to do with how receptive and how prepared someone is to hear our message. We have met a lot of people who are prepared to hear the message this week though. We could really tell how the spirit was working through these people. They had never heard of the message before now, but it seems as if they recognized it as we taught.

We taught a man named An this week. We taught him about the Restoration of the Gospel. He had a lot of the same questions as Joseph Smith: Which church is true? How will I know what church is true? He understood what we taught him very well and even said he would think about getting baptised. Hopefully we´ll meet with him towards the end of this week.

Yesterday, in church a man walked in during the last hour of church. Hermana Sánchez had met him before and so we started talking to him. He said there was something "magical" about us and wanted to learn more about the church.

We´re teaching a lot of people right now, and I wish I had the time to tell you about all of them! We even have a baptismal date for Rebecca. She´s a really special investigator. 

We´ve also been working a lot with the members to look for more referrals. The work is really hard, but I never realized it could be so fun!

As far as spiritual thoughts go this week, I was reading In Alma 20 forward, and I love the story of the Anti-Nephi-Lehites. In Alma 23: 6, it talks about their conversions. It says as they were truly converted, they never fell away. They even buried thier weapons to show the Lord that they were truly penitent. Even when the Lamanites came to battle with them, they neither turned to the left nor the right (Alma 24:23) when the Lamanites came to kill them. They were diligent and steadfast in their conversion. They truly followed the doctrine of Christ and endured to the end.

I love you guys!

Into the Field: The Second Sally

Family!!! and friends.  If you can´t tell, I miss you.  Nonetheless, time flies when you´re having fun. I´ve had a pretty awesome week this week. Last week for P-Day we went to La Gavia, a huge mall in Madrid. It was simple, but it was super fun to hang out there. We took a grand tour of Ikea and ate Swedish meatballs. :) I head out into the field on Tuesday, and I´m both excited and scared. Your prayers would be more than appreciated! I had an interesting week, especially with teaching the Gospel. At the park on Saturday, I felt very strongly that the Lord is preparing people for me to teach. I had the strange, but wonderful, feeling when I was talking to some of these people that they had been prepared to hear the message, and they were searching for it. I also had so many feelings that reaffirmed my testimony of the restoration. I always believed that Joseph Smith was a prophet, but this week, I felt like I began to "know" it. It´s a refreshing and peaceful feeling. Probably the best experience I had this week was talking to one of my practice "investigators." As way of background for what I´ve been learning in the MTC, our motto here is "Teach people, not lessons." In other words, we are not to let a problem to be fixed overpower a person to be helped. This particular investigator was having problems with his business and began to believe that he was being punished. Instead of teaching our planned lesson, I shared a scripture in Matthew 14 with him. It’s when Peter walks on the water to Christ. Soon enough the waves come and Peter is afraid and cries out "Lord, save me!" But Christ is there. I do not think in the following verse that Christ was scolding Peter when he says "Oh ye of little faith wherefore dids´t thou doubt?" (paraphrase). He was telling him to not be afraid because he was with him. We continued to talk more, and he began to feel hope that things will get better. I had another experience with this story in the scriptures. Today I went to the temple again. It was another magical session. We even got to get a tour of the temple since it´s our last week in the MTC. When I was in the celestial room, I felt as if I should read this story again. I´ve been doubting myself a bit this week, and I was afraid to go into the field. When I read it again, I noticed something different. Before Peter stepped onto the water, he called out to the Savior and asked "bid me come unto the on the water." The Savior asked him to come out, but even so, the waves came to tear Peter down. And the Savior was still there. I know that it will be difficult to
get through this mission at times, but I also know that the Lord has called me here. I know that he has a plan for me. I know that even when the storm comes, the Savior will be there for me. I´m excited to go out into the field. One more story. Don´t worry this one is funny. Last night in a lesson, I was explaining to an investigator that by being baptized into the fold of God, that he would be protected from Satan. But what I really said was that he would be protected BY Satan... This learning Spanish thing is going to be an adventure. ;)  Love you all so much! - Kathleen

Addendum:  Just to let you know, I´m getting transferred to the field tomorrow, so I won´t be able to write you this week. My p-day is on Mondays now, so you´ll be hearing from me then. Also, I´ll have more time to write. It has been so fun to be here and I can´t wait to see what happens out in the field. I´m pretty excited, but to tell you the truth, I´m a little nervous. Please pray that I´ll be able to adapt. I met the mission president last night, and he seems great! His wife is super cool too. She´s an absolute powerhouse. She spoke in a fireside last night about the Book of Mormon and how important it is to have a testimony of it and teach from it. It is the convincing power for the Church. The president also spoke and spoke a lot about obedience, as that´s when miracles happen. I certainly intend on seeing that through

Poco a Poco

I´m doing really well. There are a lot of ups and downs, but the ups are totally worth going through the downs. The weather here is starting to change. It´s getting a little chilly, but I don´t think I need a coat yet.
Spanish is coming along. As they say here: Poco a poco. (Little by little).
I´m getting an idea that I´m going to be assigned to an area around the temple. Two of my teachers think that I´m going to be assigned to their ward. I´ll be able to live in the glory days of the MTC all transfer. ;)
I really look forward to your emails every week! I miss you guys. Luckily, not too much, but just enough to be grateful for what an awesome family I have. I'm happy everything is going well! I did get your letter and I have one to send you, but the only place where I can buy stamps is a tobacco store... So that'll have to wait. Also, I loved Elder Holland's talk as well. Also, send me as many letters as you can, I love getting them!!! Also, I was reminiscing on how much time I had left as well. I realized in 8 days I'll have 17 months left. Sometimes if feels like things are going at a snail's pace, but now I don't feel like I have any time left.

This week was pretty awesome. I was able to go to Plaza Del Sol that day. It felt like for the first time, I was actually in Spain, not some building! It was a fun experience. On Saturday we went to Retiro Park again to proselyte. I had been praying all week, and I even fasted, so that I would be able to find people who were prepared to hear the Gospel. I asked in prayer that the Lord provide at least one person for me to give a Book of Mormon to and share my testimony with, and that I would have the confidence to go about finding these people who were prepared. I was paired up with a sister from Ukraine (last week a ton of native Russian speakers came to the MTC). She was nervous, but she felt comfortable after I said I was praying for her and this experience all week. The first person I talked to on the train to the park allowed me to bear my testimony and give him a Book of Mormon. He seemed pleasantly surprised when I told him it was a gift. There was another man in the park who stopped to talk to us. He had never heard of the church, but for some reason he stopped to talk. I started to realize that the Lord has truly prepared people who genuinely wanted to hear about the Gospel. I told him about the restoration of the Church (I made a promise to memorize the first vision, so I could use it), and he seemed interested in what we had to say. He happily accepted the Book of Mormon and had asked for the number of the Church. I may never see that to fruition, but I knew the Lord has been watching out for me. I'm trying a similar thing this week. This week it's my goal to find one person who is prepared to hear the Gospel, and would agree to meet with the missionaries. (We have little referral cards for people looking for the missionaries). I would appreciate any prayers sent my way. I know when we prepare and ask in prayer for help, thte Lord will provide a way for our plans.

 Now for funny stories! As background information, all my teacher are native Spaniards. This makes for some funny language barriers between all of us. One of my teachers was playing an investigator who is a stockbroker, with family problems. The first lesson was INSANE. The teacher (not the "investigator") was waiting for a friend to come and take his car keys, but in the middle of our lesson his friends came to get the keys. My teacher tried his hardest to stay in character, and pretended his friends were the investigator's wife and daughter. My companion and I thought thtat this was weird and we asked him about it when he came down. He said that they were his girl friends as in just the teacher's friends. We thought he said it was the investigator's girlfriend and the investigator was trying to pass them off as his wife and family! I kept thinking: I can't deal with this! I'm teaching an adulterer?! it's only my third week in the MTC. Hermana West and I, and two other sisters, started yelling at poor Hermano about how we can't believe that the investigator is an adulterer! One of the sisters said, "If Jose is an adulterer, so help me, HE WILL FEEL GOD'S LOVE!. Finally, one of our teachers came in and translated for my other teacher. The situation was resolved. That's all!

It´s kind of strange how the Spirit works. We watched a devotional two weeks ago about following the Spirit. Elder Bednar spoke and said that there´s not much use to fretting about whether or not you´re following the Spirit. He said that if you are a "good boy or good girl," keeping the commandments, keeping your covenants, and doing the best you can, the Spirit will guide you. Even though you might not know it.

I actually had an experience like that this week. Hermana West and I were teaching the investigator I talked about last week. We planned on teaching him the Gospel of Jesus Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end).

I had come across a scripture in my study a few weeks earlier: The story of when the woman with a blood problem touched the Savior´s coat. I decided to share it with him to drive the point home that through faith on Jesus Christ, we can be cleansed from sin (or anything for that matter). When I shared the part that said, "Daughter, thy faith hath made the whole," I felt the Spirit pound into my chest very suddenly. I have no idea how to describe it other than it felt like someone suddenly gave me a very warm hug. I knew I did something right.

We continued in the lesson, and I noticed that my teacher, who was playing the investigator, wasn’t paying much attention. I asked what the investigator was thinking. He couldn´t stop thinking about the story. We bore our testimony about what the atonement can do for us. The spirit was very strong.

When we got back to our classroom, our teacher gave us feedback. He said that scripture was meant for him. Our teacher was grateful that we shared it. I had originally planned that scripture for another investigator a few weeks ago, but I didn´t know when I was using it, that it would help a real person. He loved the story because even though there were tons of people in the crowd touching the Savior, he stopped for this one woman. He knows all of us. As long as we are willing to show faith and come to him, he will heal us.

One more story from this week:
We went to the temple today. A bunch of new, native Spanish speaking missionaries showed up, and I got caught up in their temple group, so I got to do the session in Spanish. This was my 20th session, and it was different than any other session I´ve been to.

I can´t say much, but I felt the spirit so strongly. I felt a strong impression about how our loving Heavenly Father has a plan for us. I felt so strongly that I have a place in this plan.

A Peach!!

Family and friends!

 

 

Week two at the MTC has been a peach!
I´m super busy with classes, but I´ve had some breakthroughs. This week started out hard. I didn´t quite have the confidence to think I could do this, but as time went on, I started to see that I could. We had an "investigator" this week (he was really my teacher).

Hermana West and I taught him about the atonement, and we could really feel the spirit guiding the lesson. I bore my testimony about the atonement, and how I know that the Savior had suffered for our pains, afflictions and sins. Because of this we could be comforted and become clean. We can have the slate wiped clean and start over. I lead him to the Mosiah 18: 8-11, and he asked what would impede someone from being baptised. We let the question hang for a minute, and I asked him if he would be baptised. He agreed.

Even though this was a training experience, I felt like if I could even have this experience once on my mission, all the hard parts could be worth it. I felt like I was walking on air the rest of the week.
The rest of the week was filled with classes and not a lot of notable stuff. This Saturday, we go to Rotiro Park again to proselyte, and I have prayed all week that the Lord would provide someone who is prepared to hear the Gospel. I would love it if you prayed for this as well.

So much love,
Hermana Sykes

I would LOVE letters

Hey family!
I've missed you guys, but thankfully not too much. The first week or so in the MTC has had a lot of ups and downs. I really like my district, and my companion is really nice. Her name is Hermana West and she´s from Alberta Canada. We actually have a lot of people from around the world represented here- US, Canada, Mozambique, Angola, Portugal. In a few weeks we´re going to get people from Spain and Russia. There aren't a lot of us here, probably no more than 30 people.
Mom, Dad, It´s great to see you are doing well. It sounds like the temple dedication was great!
I´m in a room with the other girls in my district, and we´re getting two more in a few weeks (visa waiters), which will make 6 of us.
So far I've learned a lot of Spanish. My companion and I have taught a lot of discussions in broken Spanish. Some of the lessons have been amazing and some of the lessons have been disastrous. But thankfully, these are just our teachers, not real people.
On Saturdays we get to go to Rotiro Park and try to talk to people. This Saturday was really fun! My companion (we were on splits that day) and I talked to some interesting people. We gave away a few pass-along cards and invited a few people to church. Not sure what will come of it, but one can always hope for the best.
We did meet one older gentleman who, while very Catholic, loves the Mormons and had two Books of Mormon (Book of Mormons?). I shared my favorite scripture with him, Alma 26:16, and as he read it, his eyes teared up a little. He was very nice to us. Although, in a strange twist of events, grabbed me and started kissing my cheek! It was quite a surprise.
Just so y´all know, my P-Day is Thursday, and I would LOVE letters through the rest of the week. PLEASE send me letters.
Love
Hermana Sykes

P.S. Notice that I didn't write home about the food.

Kathleen's MTC Address for "real" mail is:

Hermana Kathleen Sykes
Spain Madrid MTC
Calle de Templo No. 2, planta 4a.
Madrid
28030
Spain

I LOVE the MTC . . .

Here is the first email from Kathleen at the Spain MTC:

Madre y Padre!!!
I was so happy to see your letter! The MTC is letting me email you to let you know I´m alive. Sorry I couldn´t send a picture with proof of life.
All the missionaries I traveled with are wonderful and I LOVE the MTC employees. They welcomed me with kisses and hugs. The president is just like a father. I´ve only been in Spain a few hours, but   I've gotten to use my French A LOT.
On the plane another sister talked to a girl named Kaitlin who accepted a Book Of Mormon from me. It was AWESOME.
I don´t have a P-day this week, but I´ll be sure to email you next week. Before dad asks, there are 26 missionaries in the MTC and I travelled with 11 sisters and one poor elder.
I LOVE you both so much!

Hermana Sykes

She Sallies Forth!!

Kathleen's final day in Salt Lake City didn't go quite as planned.  We were planning on a leisurely day sleeping in, breakfast, packing, final calls to family and heading to the airport at the civilized hour of 3:00 pm.  This was not to be.  On Friday, at 6:30 pm, we got a call from Brother Love at the Church travel desk.  Bob Sykes refers to this (for you Neil Diamond fans) as Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show.  Air France pilots are on strike.  There was a scramble to get everyone on a flight that wouldn't leave anyone stranded in Paris.  To make a long story short, we were up half the night packing, making a last minute trip to the bank to get foreign currency, and getting to the airport at 10:00 am!  5 hours earlier than planned.  She's safely on the road (or in the air) and will spend the next 3 hours in Dallas before flying on to London Heathrow and then to Madrid.  A few tears were shed, but we know she is safely in God's hands.  See you in March 2016.

Farewell, So Long, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu. (Let's Not Forget Adios)

There's a little tradition that Mormons do when they go on their missions: It's called a farewell. The prospective missionary speaks during sacrament meeting (the main meeting in a Mormon church service), and invites friends and family to come hear them. I gave my farewell address a few weeks ago. Here it is:

I first want to thank everyone for coming, and I particularly want to thank everyone who has made this difference in my life. I had never really thought I would go on a mission. There have been so many people who taught me: Primary teachers, college professors and my parents especially. They have all helped me to be here. I am so grateful to be going on a mission.

I would like to tell you the story of how I decided to go on a mission. I never really wanted to go, but four years ago I received promptings to go. I prayed about it, and I felt an incredible amount of peace. This peace was quickly dashed to pieces by an incredible amount of distress. I just did not want to go.

I continued to pray about it for a long time. Four months after my initial answer, I received an answer that I shouldn’t go on a mission if I didn’t want to go on a mission. Not that I shouldn’t go, but that I shouldn’t if I didn’t want to.

Over the following 4 years my testimony grew. As I was about to graduate college I began to think a mission might be a good idea. I’ve always had a strong desire to serve the Lord. It was always important to me.

I emailed a friend and told him I wanted to go. Instead of getting the “Good for you!” answer I was expecting, he challenged me and responded saying something more like: “Are you sure about that?”

This caused me to analyze my motives for going, and I’m very grateful for that. I had to think about it for a couple more months. I finally decided if I truly wanted to serve the Lord, for me, the right decision was to go on a mission. I now know this is the best way to show my love for God and for the Savior.

There is a certain story in the scriptures that I read before I made my final decision. It’s in three of the four gospels: John 12, Mark 14 and Matthew 26. It’s the story of Mary – Martha and Lazarus’ sister – when she anoints the Savior shortly before His crucifixion and before the Atonement was to take place.

Mary anoints the Savior with an expensive oil and wipes His feet with her hair. In John 12 it reveals that Judas complained against her saying her offering was a waste, and the oil should have been sold for 300 pence and given to the poor. The Savior corrects him and in Mark 14 it says:

“And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a good work on me... She hath done what she could.” (Mark 14: 6, 8)

For the next few months I couldn’t stop thinking about this story. The more and more I thought about going on a mission, the more it stood out to me. What stood out to me the most is Mary did not just offer some oil as a polite gesture for the Savior. She offered her very best, and, by doing so she poured out her whole soul unto him.

While some complained against her saying it wasn’t what she should be doing, Mary knew it wasn’t enough to show her love and devotion. And it certainly wasn’t enough to pay the Savior back for what he had given her and what he would give her in the following days. Nevertheless, the Savior still accepted her love and desire to serve Him. There is no way that someone can do or say too much for the Lord.

Omni 1: 26 it says:

“And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved.”

Also, in Mosiah 2: 17 it says, “When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.” And that is my true desire: To serve our Father in Heaven by serving His children and to offer my whole soul as an offering to Him.

There are so many blessings that come from serving others and missionary work, and I know that all of my blessings come from God. My soul, my heart and my free will are the only things I can offer that are of any worth. I know it is not sufficient, but I know that the Savior allows us to give him these sacrifices.

In the remaining time, I want to discuss the scripture I chose for my missionary plaque. For those of you who don’t know about this, when missionaries leave, they often receive a plaque with their favorite scripture. My favorite scripture is Alma 26: 16:

“Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel.”

This scripture describes exactly what I feel about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I will never be able to say in words about how I feel about Jesus Christ or how I feel about the restoration of the Gospel, but I can show how it makes me feel. I have the power to find people who are seeking the Gospel, and I can share the joy and peace that I have.

I would like to bear my testimony of the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know this is the full, restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful that I get to be a part of this work, and I get to be a missionary. Despite how scary as it is and how unprepared I feel sometimes, I am so grateful that I can go out and bear my testimony, and I can share the joy the Gospel has given me.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

The Hope of God's Light

Just a quick thought to start this blog off: I know that God lives and he loves and knows each of His children, and he most definitely loves you. When you pray to Him, He will answer your prayers. Don't stop praying if you don't receive your answer right away. Some prayers take a long time to answer, but you will see The Lord's hand in your life when you continue to pour your soul out to him. He is there and He is listening.